tippers was all men you and president medvedev the german chancellor merkel met him yet at the limburg which they assured the international community was not famous paul will say invited president obama said meeting over burke is. no when didn't cite the u.s. war in afghanistan has now become washington's longest ever military campaign upwards the passing vietnam. loss from the polls the beginning of cooperation between the us and the soviet union at the height of the

cold war the apollo soyuz space mission happened thirty five years ago. a very warm welcome this is r.t. live from moscow with me on this have it cooperation between russia and germany is on the high say says president de mint that event better than. coal salt of the leaders spoke at the forum in york at the same book well our correspondent daniel bushell is there and has been following events for us daniel good to see you angela merkel and to meet the vet if they've had a pretty busy day of it haven't they so what's really been achieved during this russia germany summit. well you get the sense that the two leaders have a strong relationship on a personal level angela merkel greeted and chatted with influence

a russian they saw in several big business deals and there was talk of a trio of well. leaders forward looking leaders barack obama to richmond where if i call a trend that led to troika if you like moving the world forward on security and defense issues with food as the unifying force let's listen in. for issue in a minute let me draw your attention to the fact that germany's number one on the list of russia's partners we have long time relations which have not been spoiled even by difficult chapters in our history. when it comes to russia and germany's relations with other countries it's not like in school where you have just one friend we can have many friends germany and russia have their own issues they're completely different in nature to transatlantic problems it's useful for us to be able to discuss them together the room for dialogue doesn't exist in the same

degree with president obama as a does between us but the u.s. relationship is still very important and i think president medvedev also would like to retaliate that this conference is no way should signalize a bad relationship with president obama. well we have two options either the three of us go and he somehow megas we'd rather treat our friend barack obama to some kind of european cuisine you could design as i think the burger will taste best for me than for the two of you. it was not all smiles there was referred by medvedev to the kidnap and murder of human rights activist natalya estemirova in chechnya which has caused a lot of international concern russia's leader says they are making progress in the inquiry. but you know you're going to go at it. first of all i would like to say that the investigation into this case is in full

swing second such cases are immediately resolved only when the perpetrator is caught red handed. the killer of us tomorrow night. has been identified. truthy has been put on a wanted list and finally the investigation will continue to hunt those who ordered this serious crime. now the center of world diplomacy at the moment is iran but what if the pressure is saying that he believes iran is continuing to get close to building a nuclear bomb and he promised to work with the united nations security council to stop tehran. iran not. iran is an active unproven trade partner but it doesn't mean that we are indifferent towards the way the islamic republic is developing its nuclear facilities we are also concerned with some military components of its atomic program iran should find courage to

begin fully cooperating with the international community to iran should do this even if it doesn't like some issues it's currently facing. its own over all of the meeting was very friendly the two leaders are developing one of the strongest partnerships among all on the world stage germany where if merkel told top local restaurant they ate octopus a bit of promised it was not paul the octopus who predicted germany's fall in the semifinals of the world cup. ok daniel many thanks for the update that was done reporting for us a with a. wealth of the outlook yarnall that is wrenching for the rusher in global affairs website says that this meeting highlights just how close relations between germany and russia are all. they meet almost every year every month and they have

a lot to discuss so i would say the most important think about russian joan allusions is that we don't need to break the rules because every meeting used to be assessed according to breakthrough achieved or not so in russian german relationship it's so intense and so close that we don't need a breakthrough if we do what we need just discuss business in fact what is going on european union is in this serious confusion future development and the model of integration is not. clear yet which are mortal saw germany is forced to take elite and it's not because germany once but bad situation is this pushing germany to be the shit position and its very nature of that russia and germany are trying to discuss the whole range of issues not only corner but also security and we see that russia not only indorsed sanctions in the security council but also is ready to continue to discuss the sweet russia again is not is

not in favor of sanctions is a mean but it looks like mediator for decided to sort of seek to try to prevent iran from getting nuclear. you know with allison good to have you with us coming up in just a few minutes who has don't live in that child's age ship bound for the gulf rise and ward off to israel's heard it away from the decade of territory. afghanistan is seeing escalating violence with the june being the bloodiest month of foreign troops since the start of the war so said john kerry highlighted the fun but the minute she campaigns the policy vietnam as the longest in u.s. history during a meeting of the foreign relations committee and as congress assesses the grim statistics popular war is showing few signs of ending all these lower enlisted

reports. it's the comparison that cannot be avoided by press pundits and now politicians last month afghanistan surpassed. a place that both ambassador holbrooke and i are all too familiar with. as the longest military campaign in american history committee chairman senator john kerry brought up the failed u.s. war of decades ago at a crucial time in america's current one this is a difficult moment in the afghan conflict a moment when questions about strategy and progress abound at a hearing on governance and the u.s. civilian strategy in the region the man in charge of it all a vietnam veteran himself tries to make the lesson of that history the fundamental difference between those two wars since you mentioned it was the chairman and this war our national security interests are at stake with the safety of the u.s. at stake as richard holbrooke claims you might think congress would have crossed

their t.'s and dotted their i's by now and fighting their longest battle as they're supposed to be united states constitution requires that before the united states goes to war that there be an act of congress but just as in the vietnam war we've never followed. the procedure with respect to the war in afghanistan and we centrally drifted into a war in a long term commitment a long term commitment that appears to be wearing on lawmakers who want to know this wouldn't be helpful for the president to at least lay out a flexible time for when the u.s. is getting out beyond the july two thousand and eleven date to start withdrawal u.s. president obama set it's given no assurance that this should be an open ended occupation holbrooke emphasizes the u.s. is committed to no calendar very leery of setting a date certain made here for the salute withdrawal but still the end game is unclear civilian and military operations in afghanistan are

proceeding without a clear definition of success the ambassador is banking on the success of reintegrating the taliban starting next week but little about afghanistan appears to be in u.s. favor it's not where you choose to fight to defend the american homeland it's the most remote logistical place you know it states has ever fought ancestry just who can put an end to this fight in the absence of withdrawal dates if military and political missions fail the congress has the ability to stop the war by not funding it as u.s. lawmakers and officials talk strategy and tout successes in afghanistan this comes amid escalating violence in the region deal with the bloodiest month in the nine year conflict with one hundred international troops killed forty five have been killed so far in july with twelve of those deaths coming in the last day or so for r t m or leicester washington d.c. . now for the u.s.

strategy to work the ground forces to take control of the transition will be anything but straightforward as a veteran jake do the best points. the overall strategy is to pass over leadership from the americans and the coalition forces to the afghans but as i experience when i was just in afghanistan a few months ago in the afghan national army training center. national army is going to be ineffective and i'm able to take over the leadership from the americans now while you're going to hear a lot of talk about the iraq surge working because we passed iraqi leadership of the iraqi army but the iraqi army is light years ahead of where the afghan army use the afghan army is is ineffective in every possible way so you tell we're going to gain momentum and unfortunately unless there's peace talks and peace negotiations the situation will always be a quagmire. go on the u.s.

to could giant leap for mankind the launch of the space may soon be a place event masini the beginning of their off space cooperation between the team countries but also a warming in cold relations at the nose out of our flex on a historic another story it was a turning point they launched the keenly frog called war space race into new heights two rockets blasting off half a world away from each other would bring the soviet union and the united states into the same orbit. when so he's nineteen and the apollo craft jacked it up shoot a whole new chapter in space exploration the first ever joint project between two better rivals it was a giant leap for the men on board too like i said he was the second pilot in a say use crew. when we docked with apollo it was one of the most significant moments in history of russia and the u.s.

before everything was secret all the details of our space programs every detail do so use apollo project we could finally passed a barrier. the lady still remembers all the details of that flight from the technical to the happy banter between them and the american astronauts on the go you were showing the guys different cities and places in russia and when we were flying over the us brand was showing us florida i remember he said this is where all the pensioners go to live. thirty five years on most of these men will once again get the chance to meet and share memories of their historic link up with my brother alex one of the series commander is in the united states for the big day. the launch was during the height of the cold war so this project wasn't of just technical and scientific importance but was also a great step towards cooperation between russia and the u.s. there were no losers. there are plans for his apollo counterpart thomas stafford to

meet president obama but not until the friends have had a chance to catch up with each other it was a or meaningful symbol to the people of the world when we open the hatch. and showed the world. the space race and in a way. the joint space project had a huge impact on both sides of the atlantic a time when rocket launches captured millions of imaginations worldwide media conceived was a teenager when he watched the suze reach into the sky and vividly remembers every emotion it stirred up with been born with a girl i remember the day perfectly i was in the fourth grade and it was a huge celebration not just for the school but the entire city we got handed balloons flags and went to meet the cosmonauts we were quite little so of course we couldn't understand all the implications of this flight but we felt the excitement

and then later on we were all outside again to watch the actual launch i remember my dad who worked on the launch but he told me that this was the most important event of the century. thirty five years on and the say use apollo project still fires people's feelings some are even banking on it both crews work quipped with special watches designed by omega now the company's released a limited edition anniversary timepiece and appetite for nostalgia doesn't end there the scenes are. so hot. your dogs like your memorabilia a special brand of cigarettes was created just to mark the occasion that the day these were incredibly popular and were almost impossible to find the thirty fifth anniversary of the docking they are once again missing the city's store's katherine as are the artsy moscow. a libyan ship carrying aid for gaza has don't gyptian port and irish the al fair renamed hope for the voyage was trying to

break the blockade of the palestinian on cave but it was warned against the action by the israeli navy. a publicity stunt a provocation or as organizers claim and if it merely to get much needed supplies into gaza in place were all the ingredients for an international showdown a libyan ship sitting still for gaza its organizers vowing to break the israeli blockade and the memory of nine turkish citizens killed in a similar to md still fresh in everyone's mind but in the end the captain gave in to israel's order and without much fuss docked the ship in egypt for the israelis it's a victory they say the fact that the united states and european union convinced the ship to change its course legitimizes their position but activists disagree they say the libyan effort puts the story of gaza back in the headlines her must accuse israel of climbers see and insists its refusal to allow aid ships to reach gaza is in breach of international law in the congress who traveled in still travel must

continue because we're now facing a battle to break the blockade imposed in gaza and this battle is related to the land of palestine and jerusalem and to the blockade of jerusalem as well but the jury's still out on whether the restrictions israel has in place are legal or not you can apply. a maritime blockade if there is an armed conflict. and according to various judges of the supreme court officer it is a conflict that we have with the hamas and you can apply to any sure which is either occupied or under the control of the other party last month is one announced it was easing its blockade on gaza but underground tunnels are still how most goods find their way inside among the good smuggled in each month are hundreds of motorcycles many of them used by youngsters disparate for any kind of work like young people can get

a job fuel is also very expensive because of the blockade which is why most people don't use taxis or even their own car as a young people to use these bikes to pick up all kinds of goods and deliver them to people's homes israel suffered unprecedented diplomatic fallout after nine turkish citizens were killed on board an age ship in may but the country still insists its position is legitimate but you treat posting which has been viewed by nearly half a million people illustrates what most israelis believe world leaders often act as puppets for the arab world legitimization of terror. right now but. just to have us but we don't upload these songs in order to laugh at those who have been killed and we're not all against the humanitarian aid going to gaza the state of israel agrees to pass the goods but we are against the provocation we are against mercenaries coming here but organizers of the libyan ship insist their attempt was not a provocation either way the middle east breathed a sigh of relief that events ended so calmly. r.t.

ashdod. ok to take a look now small the stories making headlines across the world this hour and five people killed and at least thirty five wounded in that blast in northern pakistan and the suicide bomber targeted a call pollers near a crowded parts total officials say islamic militants is still an active in the region despite an ongoing dedicated billet you operation targeting terrorists at. the u.s. military has handed over control of its last remaining prison in iraq the country's all forces will now take charge of thousands of detainees that come near baghdad's airport however the american military will continue to hold some key members of saddam hussein's former regime up until the u.s. withdraws its troops in december twenty eighth and. an iranian nuclear scientist who claims he was kidnapped by the cia head to the u.s.

for one year has arrived home in iran into rallies over of his he's been subjected to the harshest mental and physical torture washington insists he had traveled to america of his own free will the allegation that came all of the videos reportedly all the middy emerged where he claimed he was tortured by u.s. interrogators for information on iran's nuclear program. elsewhere that he's it's our hair on our teeth to go after a short break queen is up next the latest. hungry for the full story we've got it's. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.

and i welcome to a business program good to have you with us the russian government will spend five and a half billion dollars on the skolkovo innovation center which is intended to become russia's version obsolete come valley during the meeting with chancellor merkel and yet as invoke president medvedev said he hopes the route of his asian process will be quick or is counting on support from german partners the countries have already agreed that the german engineering giant siemens would join skolkovo and create a new research center that it may have said he was encouraged by the strengthening of trade relations despite the difficult economic conditions. in the area so you might be in january to may two thousand and ten i'm about to return i did between russia and germany grew by almost fifty percent of the economies are recovering the main trade sectors it was

a recount recruits according to our data german investments russia's economy accounted for around twenty billion dollars that makes is very happy. with it russian corporate news one of the country's largest metals companies and l m k says it expects to post a profit of over two billion dollars for the second quarter of this year the company said that results will be impacted by the recent slight softening of steel prices and eleven k. predicts that sales in the third quarter will be level with the second quarter of a process which show that it climes. and yet another major russian metals company has announced a twenty six increase twenty six percent increase in stupid auction in the second quarter in comparison to the first quarter the rise in profit is more martyrs and around seven percent. and in the precious metals sector russia's largest gold produce supporters gold says net income rose by two percent to fifty seven million dollars in the first half of twenty two thousand and ten because many said the

headline figure was given a significant boost by the dividends from its extracting subsidy or. more you may raise its russian banking sector outlook to stable from negative by the end of the year the credit rating agency says the banks will set aside up to sixty five percent of their profits to cover bad loans in two thousand and ten that's much less than previous year however it expects a growth in the number of overdue loans forcing the banks to create additional reserves to cover them in march russia's finance minister also advised banks not to slash provisions for bad loans to the. european markets are up this hour london this plot while dax is trading point four percent higher barclays in rio tinto among top losers of the food sit down two point four and one point eight percent respectively and down there is gaining almost a person in front of. russian equity markets and moderately this hour the r.t. has over one percent higher and the mild six is up point nine percent all the blue

chips are trading in the black on them isaacs with banking stocks doing exceptionally well as very bank up almost two percent maybe to be told what eight percent. russia is suffering its worst drought in more than a decade a state of emergency has been declared in sixteen regions the government has offered assistance to the agricultural sector but even with the extra help many farmers say they paid back up see that we did a report. in another day. not a cloud inside formers are still going to. harvest three weeks early to minimize further damage to the crops the expected green yard has been reduced from ninety five to seventy five million tonnes according to the group culture ministry but it's not only the poor outlook for the harvest that's pushing prices higher cost so what we're seeing domestic prices rise the first reason is the drought and the growing concern of market participants about the harvest the second reason is a significant shift in the global market spawning futures prices over the last

month or ten fifteen percent this has pushed russia's export price up as well of the president being from one hundred sixty five to one hundred eighty three dollars per tonne that's an eighteen dollars hike in just a few weeks. the government is stepping up measures to help farmers as they suffer in the unusually dry weather its promise to extend loan subsidies help with their insurance premiums and continue to provide help with transport costs. the president gave the correct instruction to extend credit farmers are unable to return money now and it would lead to massive bankruptcies in the sector the whole picture we will see later but the measure that is essential now is tackling railway tariffs so that we will be able to transfer grain from siberian regions where the weather conditions have been better. despite these being the worst drought for a decade and fifteen major culture regions reporting severe damage to crops russia will still be self-reliant in green these here but the longer the hot dry weather

persists agree to the risks faced by individual farmers without government help now many believe they will not be able to continue and russia's normally surplus green production could become a deficit in a diminutive a business r.t. . that's all for last at this hour are back with another business update about that in that.

wealthy british style. time. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds of reports . that are killing innocent. allies a call base of course and that's never absent. mom a song from the skull spoke to me i think of it every day. the flashbacks from the memories seem odd to so much so long time in the series trying to

tell. i was. i was ashamed that i didn't. i was ashamed that i hadn't been a hero why. are my go my legs come off. in the modern. times where i like to be out. or to. get out more i was going once or i think. that i was a good soldier. but now most older on the other side and i think i'm just not good .

to much brighter than a few. songs from feldstein. means from start totty dot com. in the united kingdom.